A news release
from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) said that when combined with US smoking-related
health-care costs – which was reported at $75.5 billion in
1998 – the bill ultimately comes in at more than $167
billion annually.

The latest study reports productivity losses from deaths
and finds that smoking causes 3.3 million years of
potential life lost for men and 2.2 million years for
women. Smoking, on average, reduces adult life expectancy
by approximately 14 years, the CDC said.

“Cigarette smoking continues to impose substantial
health and financial costs on individuals and society,”
said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, in the news
release. “We’ve made good progress in reducing the number
of people who smoke, but we have much more work to do. If
we want to significantly reduce the toll in this decade, we
must provide the 32 million smokers who say they want to
quit with the tools and support to do so successfully.”

For more information about tobacco use and smoking
cessation, visit the Office on Smoking and Health Web site
at
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco
.